+++
title = "OID Summit 2020 Feedback"
date = "2020-03-30"
description = "Feedback concerning the edited draft for OIS 2020."
+++


Feedback
========

Open Source
-----------

> Alternative implementation strategies include open source software
> development, closed source software development, and potentially both.

I never really liked the term \"closed source\" because it doesn\'t have
a movement behind it. OSI backs \"open source\" and the FSF backs \"free
software\". So-called \"closed source\" is just another name for
proprietary. English speakers seem to fuss about the definition between
open and free in terms of software, but to give \"free license\" has
only one meaning. Contrast with proprietary and we can just talk about
licenses and ignore software entirely. At this point they aren\'t
\"alternative\" strategies, but rather just the only two options, with a
third being both.

### Regarding concerns between either

We have run out of reference counts, so I think we have to just arm
chair it. But I think some folks might have different perspectives on
why something proprietary vs something with free license might seem
better than the other. In terms of operating systems, many folks like
MacOS and Windows over Debian. But in terms of web browsers, the lines
blur with almost all modern browser being completely or mostly under a
free license. (In this case doesn\'t it feel natural to say a free
softare license?) IBM, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, Intel, and
AMD all have large open source footprints. Linux the kernel (not what I
call lowercase linux the distros) has been in most web servers for the
last 20 years and in most mobile devices for the last 10 years. All or
most of the these companies have contributed to it for their own
benefit.

But the point: formal software engineering methods can apply regardless.
The license and the formal methods are independent. We can truth-table
it. We\'ve all seen this one before and forever, just with different
column names:

  Has free license   Uses formal methods   Has reliable developers
  ------------------ --------------------- -------------------------
  o                  o                     x
  o                  o                     o
  o                  x                     x
  o                  x                     o
  x                  o                     x
  x                  o                     o
  x                  x                     x
  x                  x                     o
